Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service attended a fire at a monkey enclosure at Woburn Safari Park at 2.37am this morning (Tuesday 2 January 2018). When Firefighters from Woburn and Dunstable Community Fire Stations arrived along with the water carrier from Toddington they found the outbuilding housing Patas monkeys was well alight and its roof had fallen in. They fought the fire using fire hoses while wearing breathing apparatus to protect themselves from the smoke and fumes. The building was 90% damaged by the fire. The fire was spotted by security guards on a routine patrol. There were a number of fatalities amongst the monkeys housed in the building. The incident was closed at 4.46am.

🎉Do you have big plans for seeing in the New Year?🎉 If you are throwing a party, having a few quiet drinks at home or hitting the town be sure to stay safe. Remember: • Never leave cooking unattended. • Ensure all candles are blown out before you go to bed. • Make sure you have planned how you are getting home don’t accept a lift from someone who has been drinking. • Beware the morning after – you could be over the legal limit many hours after your last drink, time is the only way to get alcohol out of your system.

Were you lucky enough to get some new gadgets for Christmas. 💻 📱 🎮⌚️ Register them on http://mymsg.eu/37gg to ensure that you are made aware of any safety advice or recalls. #homesafety #firesafety

🎄🎅🏼Merry Christmas everyone, we hope that you have a lovely day with your loved ones. 🎄🎅🏼 Spare a thought for all those away from loved ones keeping you all safe from harm and remember don’t leave cooking unattended no-one wants a burnt Turkey! #FireSafety #MerryChristmas

We’d like your views on our Budget and Council Tax for 2018/19 Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes to give us your views about our share of the Council Tax for 2018/19 by completing this short questionnaire. Each year, we consider how best to use our available resources and budget to manage fire, road and water-related risks in the community, reduce emergency incidents and respond when and where we’re needed. This year we are proposing an increase in the Council Tax of £1.85 a year or under 4p a week (an increase of 1.99%) taking our share of the Council Tax paid by local council taxpayers (at band D) to £94.66. http://mymsg.eu/3233 Taking your views into account when we develop our plans and fix our Budget helps us to ensure that we meet your needs as well as responding effectively and swiftly when required. Our vision is to provide the people of Bedfordshire with an excellent Fire and Rescue Service and we’d like your views on how we can manage our budget most effectively. The consultation closes at 12.01 on Monday 22 January so please complete the questionnaire by then. Thank you for taking time to answer our questions.

Members of our road safety team have spent all week at Central Bedfordshire College as part of the Service’s National Road Safety Week casualty reduction strategy. Today they were joined by colleagues from Dunstable White Watch, who have been speaking to students about ‘The Fatal Four’ - driving whilst on the phone, speeding, driving under the influence of drink or drugs and not wearing a seatbelt. The response from the students has been positive and reinforces the Service’s policy of making every contact count. For more on 'The Fatal Four' click here: http://mymsg.eu/2vd7

Special shout out to aspiring Firefighter Zach Smith who came to visit and spend some time with the crew on White Watch. Zach who is a huge fan of Fireman Sam was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy in 2012 and had life changing surgery in July of this year at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The family self funded the operation with lots of fundraising in 2016 as it is not funded on the NHS. The operation is called SDR, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy. The aim of Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy is to ease muscle spasticity and improve mobility. It involves cutting nerves in the lower spine that are responsible for muscle rigidity. Zach loved his visit to the Fire Station and one day would like to be a Firefighter 👨‍🚒🚒 we look forward to seeing you on station in a few years time Zach 😊

Texting while driving is an epidemic! Remember…It doesn’t matter how good you think your driving skills are, don’t take the risk it only take a split second for road and the situation to change! #StaySafe

Texting whilst driving?… Don’t! no text message is more important than your own life! #StaySafe

🎉🎉Don't forget to enter our competition 🎉🎉- the closing date is Tuesday 31 October. Good luck to everyone who has entered :) Does your child love Christmas? 🎅🏼🎄 Every year we hold at Christingle Service at Woburn Church and this year we are holding a competition for children to design the front cover of the programme for the service. The criteria is a 'Christmassy' picture but with a fire related theme. The competition is open to all children in the following age ranges and a winner will be chosen from each age group: • 4 - 7 years • 8 - 10 years • 11 - 13 years The overall winner will have their drawing printed on the front cover of this year’s Christingle programme and all three winners will see their creation on our Fire and Rescue Service Christmas cards. The winning children and their families will also get to visit a fire station. Entries can either be handed in to reception at our headquarters site in Kempston or posted, for the attention of Sue Shepherd, BFRS Headquarters, Southfields Road, Kempston, Beds, MK42 7NR. All entries should be in colour and include: • The child’s name and age • The child’s school • The child’s parent's name/s • Contact details, including phone number, for a parent. Find out more about your local Fire and Rescue Service by visiting our website http://mymsg.eu/2rsv

Yet another cooking fire in Bedfordshire, making this the fourteenth one in the last fortnight. Please share our safety advice to prevent more happening due to carelessness. At 15.54 yesterday afternoon (Thursday 5 October) fire broke out in student accommodation at Windsor Hall, Wenlock Court, Manor Road, Luton. Because the fire was in a block of flats four fire engines, two from Dunstable and one each from Luton and Leighton Buzzard Community fire Stations were sent to the scene, supported by the aerial platform from Luton Community Fire Station. When they arrived they found a fire in a kitchen on the second floor of the three storey block. Wearing breathing apparatus to protect themselves against the smoke and fumes Firefighters tackled the fire using an attack jet and covering jet. The fire was quickly extinguished and the smoke was cleared from the building using positive pressure ventilation. One woman suffered from smoke inhalation and was treated by paramedics. If you have a child or friend who is a student or young person living away from home please share this message and our advice to prevent further cooking and kitchen fires and go to our website for more safety advice. http://mymsg.eu/2r2f • Don’t leave the kitchen while cooking, if you must take pans off the heat or turn them off to prevent them overheating and catching fire; • Don’t be distracted by your mobile phone while cooking; • Always double check your cooker is off when finished cooking, leaving pans on a hot stove, even when it’s switched off, can cause residual oil, fat or grease to catch fire; • Keep tea towels, cloths, cookery books and other flammable material away from the cooker and hob; • Hot oil can catch fire if left for too long; • If oil starts to smoke - it's too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool; • Use a thermostat controlled electric deep fat fryer which keeps oil from self-igniting; • If your pan of hot oil catches fire leave it where it is, turn off the heat if it’s safe to do so, then get out and ring 999; • NEVER THROW WATER ON BURNING OIL. It will turn into a fireball, spreading the fire and causing you serious injury.

Competition time!